Ask the Author Live: Dana Goodyear on Eating Bugs

In the August 15th & 22nd issue of the magazine, Dana Goodyear writes about entomophagy, which is the act of eating insects. On Thursday, August 25th, Goodyear answered readers’ questions in a live chat. A transcript of their discussion follows.

THE NEW YORKER: Dana Goodyear will be joining us in just a moment. For now, please submit your questions.

DANA GOODYEAR: Hi everyone. Thank you for coming to the live chat. I’m excited to hear about your bug-eating experiences!

QUESTION FROM TOD: Were friends and family like “ew, gross” when you said you were working on this story?

DANA GOODYEAR: Yes. Almost everyone. I’d watch them grow interested in the arguments—the ecological reasons, the comparison to shellfish—and then several minutes in they’d say, “Wait—YOU didn’t eat bugs, did you?”

QUESTION FROM MAXWELL: What was the hardest creature to contemplate eating?

DANA GOODYEAR: The tarantula. I didn’t get to face my fears on that one because the cook had only one to work with and the “spider roll” she made was consumed by the judges in the competition. But had I been offered, I would have found it hard to say yes.

QUESTION FROM GUEST: What about NYC city cockroaches, are they safe to eat?

DANA GOODYEAR: Experienced bug cooks and eaters—and entomologists—will tell you that it’s not safe to wild-harvest, so to speak, and certainly not safe to eat insects raw. They can carry diseases like salmonella and e. coli. City roaches could have been exposed to pesticides and other toxins. Generally it’s a good idea to know how your food has been living before you eat it.

DANA GOODYEAR: I found the escamoles quite wonderful.

QUESTION FROM GUEST: An obvious question, what do bugs taste like?

DANA GOODYEAR: Most of the insects I tasted have a flavor somewhere between a sunflower seed and a dried shrimp, with shades of wild mushroom: woodsy, gamey, umami-ish. Silk-worm pupae reminded me of cashews.

QUESTION FROM JUSTIN: Do they grow these bugs in factory farms or are there organic options where these creatures get to see the sunlight?

DANA GOODYEAR: In countries where there is a long tradition of eating insects, they are harvested from nature by experienced foragers. The insect farms in the U.S. typically serve the pet-food and bait industries, and conditions there are a little more factory-like, though I am not sure the ethical issues are the same as they are when we talk about pigs, chickens, and cows—not because insects are less important or less deserving of humane treatment, but because they tend to like dark, crowded places.

QUESTION FROM SEDGEMAN: Why the comparison to shellfish?

DANA GOODYEAR: Insects, like lobsters, shrimp, and crabs, are arthropods and have many morphological similarities. Why should some arthropods be considered delicacies and others (those with the cleaner habits, generally) be considered repulsive?

DANA GOODYEAR: Chocolate-covered ants were a big thing in the sixties, and today there is a company called HotLix that makes lollipops with mealworms in them.

QUESTION FROM DAVID: Was a great story. Thanks. My interest is truly piqued. Sounds as though Laos is a great place to see it in action. Any suggestions of other places to see it being applied on a large scale?

DANA GOODYEAR: Thank you! There is supposed to be great insect-eating in Mexico City. China, too.

QUESTION FROM FRED: Is there anyone arguing that aversion to bugs is an innate, physical thing, rather than just a product of culture… because it feels elemental, down to my core that I fear these things.

DANA GOODYEAR: I know what you mean, but it’s hard to make the argument that the repulsion is innate, given that so much of the world—eighty per cent—eats bugs.

QUESTION FROM BILL: Is there a common food that most people eat that just disgusts you?

DANA GOODYEAR: I love cheese, but when I think too hard about what it is I get a bit distressed.

QUESTION FROM GUEST: what are the medical risks of consuming such food?

DANA GOODYEAR: The major medical problem I’m aware of is allergic reaction, which can happen to those with shellfish allergies. I did hear a couple of entomologists complaining about having developed an allergy to mealworms after handling (and eating) large volumes of them in the lab..

QUESTION FROM NANCY: have you ever eaten termites? i ate red termites (live ones) in Belize and found them to taste like carrots, sort of sweet and a bit crunchy

DANA GOODYEAR: I have not tried them. They sound good! I know that they are extremely nutritious.

QUESTION FROM DEREK HOPPER: Tried cockroach in Bangkok and a deep-fried tarantula in Cambodia. Only live once. It was more interesting than a KFC.

DANA GOODYEAR: You are very brave.

QUESTION FROM CHARLI CONNOR: My daughter has just come back from Ecuador where she ate ants! Tasted like lemon apparently.

DANA GOODYEAR: That’s the formic acid.

QUESTION FROM PATTY: Crickets, grasshoppers? What do they taste like and do you first remove the head, legs and wings? (I’m getting nauseous just visualizing it!)

DANA GOODYEAR: With crickets and grasshoppers, you remove the wings, legs, and ovipositors; heads are optional.

QUESTION FROM LAUREL: If someone wished to purchase insects to eat, where would they look?

DANA GOODYEAR: With food I think context is everything. In general, reporting, I take a When in Rome approach. And anything tastes pretty good cooked in butter. I didn’t try the tailless whip scorpion that I watched being cooked for one reason, a guiding principle: the chef didn’t know if it had ever been eaten by humans before. She had good reason to think it wouldn’t be toxic, but I wasn’t interested in finding out. I try to stick to things that are part of an established culinary tradition.

QUESTION FROM FLR: I know you don’t choose the art for your articles, but I just wanted to say how great the photos are!

DANA GOODYEAR: My compliments to the photographer, Hans Gissinger—and to the chef.

QUESTION FROM VALERIE WINN: NO. HELL NO. Are you kidding? The idea of eating a bug makes me flee towards the Gastronomic Land of White Bread and Mayonnaise.

DANA GOODYEAR: We should look up the FDA tolerance levels for insect parts in mayo and white bread. But I take your point—eating it deliberately is a different story. There are people in the entomophagy movement who think that the best way to advance the cause is to market insect proteins (powders, patties, etc) and not tell the public what they are eating. Get them to like it, THEN reveal the secret ingredient. But don’t worry, I don’t think that’s ever going to happen.

QUESTION FROM CLARE: I’m interested in the backgrounds of your bug-eating subjects in the article. Aside from the Professor of Entomology, how did they get into this gastronomical niche?

DANA GOODYEAR: It’s an eclectic group. A couple of them had experience working in zoos; Daniella Martin was an Internet game-show host; Dave Gracer is an English professor at a community college in Rhode Island, and a former clown. They all have a streak of showmanship. The younger generation, who are really exploring the entrepreneurial opportunities, tend to be ecologically-minded college students who are worried about the end of the world.

QUESTION FROM DOUGLASS: Are there PETA people out there concerned with the ethical treatment of bugs as food?

DANA GOODYEAR: Larry Peterman at HotLix told me he has experienced a lot of pressure from PETA. He wouldn’t let me see his rearing-and-processing plant, due to security concerns.

QUESTION FROM TIM: I read your article with incredible sympathy to the protein is protein argument. And yet I just can’t think of eating bugs. How do I get over this?

DANA GOODYEAR: You might be a candidate for bug powder or bug sticks or some product where the shape of the creature is no longer evident. If you find yourself in The Netherlands, you can go to a Sligro grocery store, which stocks a line of bug products, and see what you can stomach.

QUESTION FROM JUAN CARLOS GARZA: Chapulines!!!

DANA GOODYEAR: Yum. That is something I would definitely eat again, off-duty.

QUESTION FROM JANICE: Is eating or not eating insects an East v. West, developed world v. undeveloped world or some other dichotomy issue?

DANA GOODYEAR: In general, it is Europeans and people of European descent who have a problem with it. In places like Mexico and China, which have always had large populations and therefore have had a more inclusive approach to the question of what is edible, insects have been eaten for centuries (if not millennia). In Europe there were enough large animals to eat that people didn’t have to look down the food chain. I’m tempted to add an ominous “yet” to that sentence.

QUESTION FROM JOHN: So if eating insects is a cultural thing instead of innate, how do you change the culture?

DANA GOODYEAR: Get a celebrity to eat bugs? Angelina Jolie has said that she and her kids eat insects as snacks, so we’ll see.

QUESTION FROM DARIN: I like the idea of figuring out a way to get at the “meat” of bugs, which Entom Foods is working on—but how practical will it be? are there enough bugs to be able to sustain a market for this sort of thing, or will it forever be a niche thing, or would we face extinction problems and significant issues with environmental problems because of it if they caught on?

DANA GOODYEAR: Uncontrolled exploitation would cause a problem, and already has in rural Mexico, where the high price of certain insects has led to over-harvesting. Farmed insects, presumably, would obviate the problem, but I don’t know if that will happen here without some government encouragement, similar to what’s happening in Holland.

DANA GOODYEAR: Thank you all for your good questions and comments. I’m signing off now!

Photograph by Hans Gissinger.

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